Good Questions: How do I make my feng dance with my shui in this bedroom?

The Cure has helped save most every room in my rental apartment, but I think I may have seriously fallen into the ditch for my bedroom. My ditch-falling centers around color. [more after the jump]

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"The room is pretty small at 9 x 12. I've got a full sized platform bed with putty-colored upholstery with two small distressed metal nightstands and an heirloom cedar chest from the 1950's that I think may be fighting with each other. The flooring is a butt-ugly grey wall-to-wall but since it's a rental, I'm kinda stuck with it. To make matters worse, I painted the room a slate-ish blue, which I'm beginning to think may have been way in the wrong direction. I was hoping for a "cool" temperature and "calming/serene" feel. I think instead I got "In-your-face BLUE!!!"

I'm going a little nuts trying to figure out how to make my feng dance with my shui. Do I change the wall colors? Different nightstands? Different lamps? Will some photos or art on the walls solve the problem or just make it worse? My "sanctuary" is not much a sanctuary and I think it's getting jealous of the rest of my properly "Cured" rooms.

Any suggestions?

Sincerely,Hopeless in Chinatown (Dave)"

Hi Dave,

First off, we think you've done many things here well. Your bed looks comfy and inviting. You've banished clutter. Your furnishings are spare, and while the materials are varied, the neutral color scheme holds it together. It's a very good beginning.

The brick wall is a formidable presence in this room, so let's start there. We love the look of exposed brick, but it is heavy, and in this case it needs to be set off by something lighter than the slate blue of the wall abutting it. Repaint with a much lighter, softer shade of blue, and we think you'll be more than halfway to "calming/serene."

The rest of this challenge is about warming up and softening the space. If you have the floorspace for it, we'd bring in a bit of nature in the form of a potted tree. And a single well-chosen poster, photo, textile, light sculpture, or other piece of art near the bed (only hang art above the bed if it's earthquake-safe) will take the edge off that brick and bring you closer to a feeling of sanctuary.